This is a new and rapidly growing way of funding projects with small pledges from individuals who always receive in return something valuable for their funding.

Kickstarter.com is one of the main crowd-funding platforms for art-related projects.

A project is usually a new product or a product line, has a funding goal and a deadline for all fundings.
As an example our project will create a new book (ebook and print), has a funding goal of $1200 and a deadline of one month from now on.

Pledgers choose between the various options with different pledge amounts.
Our project offers a pledge for an ebook, another pledge for the printed copy of the book and several more pledges for Annie's original illustrations.

When somebody pledges, they are not charged until the deadline is reached.
If, by then, the total amount of the pledges reaches or is in excess of the defined goal, the project is declared funded and the pledgers are charged. They will receive the products they have pledged for.

If the goal is not reached when the deadline comes, all pledges are canceled, nobody is charged for any pledge and the project receives no funding.